Monday, September 23, 2013

Anna Dressed in Blood by Kendare Blake

Ohhhhhh, this book hooked me! Even the cover draws you in.  It is one of the better ghost stories I have read in a long time.  Cas hunts what should already be dead.  Like his father before him, Cas hunts ghosts that have the annoying habit of killing people.  His father was killed by one of these ghosts and now Cas uses his athame (a ceremonial daggar) to take out these pesky paranormals.  Now he has moved to yet another new city and is hunting a ghost that is more murderous and powerful than he has ever encountered.  I liked Cas, he is cocky and very sure of himself and his ability.  (Beware, he does like to swear so if that offends you you may not want to read this).  You should also not read if gore is not your thing.  It's definitely my thing and I loved this book.  I believe the author has written another book and I have it on my "to buy" list.

Friday, September 20, 2013

Because I Am Furniture by Thalia Chaltas

This is another novel in verse.  Anke's father is abusive to her sister as well as her brother but leaves Anke alone.  She seems to be invisible to him.  She understands that this is a good thing but sometimes a small part of her just wants attention...any attention.  The author does a good job alluding to the abuse without being graphic about it.  This is Anke's story of finding her voice and finally making herself seen and heard.

Dear Bully: 70 Authors Tell Their Stories (Edited by Megan Kelley Hall and Carrie Jones)



This was a fantastic book.  I was bullied in grade school.  This was not a one time instance of some kid being mean.  This was an all the time "picking on" that made going to school, as well as the walk home, not very pleasant even though I loved to learn.  Even though we wore uniforms and they couldn't pick on my wardrobe they found other ways to make fun. I was "too short" or "had too many freckles" any number of other things they could find or imagine. I was never beat up by their fists but the constant barrage of nasty words was almost worse.  It led to me choosing to go to a high school as far away from them as I could get.  This book offers stories from some of your favorite authors that experienced similar situations and turned to their writing to make it through the tough times and THEN they turned that writing into a successful career.  I couldn't put this book down.  I learned many powerful lessons from my Grandma Daddario (my Dad's mom) but the two I remember the best are "if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all" and "being kind doesn't cost you anything."  So be kind to each other!

Tuesday, September 17, 2013

Slob by Ellen Potter

I really enjoyed this heartwarming, sad little story that also made me chuckle at times.  Owen Birnbaum is the "fattest kid in school."  He wasn't always this way, but something happened 2 years ago and he kind of lost control of his eating to fill a void.  Owen is also a genius, well, almost.  He is about 1 pt. away from being a genius and he invents all kinds of cool things.  One thing is a TV that will help him see something that happened 2 years ago.  While he is inventing, Owen still has to go to school and deal with bullies (both kids AND a teacher who is out to get him), his sister who now wants to be called by a "boy name" and someone is stealing his much loved OREOs out of his lunch! 

Monday, September 16, 2013

Sugar Changed the World: A Story of Magic, Spice, Slavery, Freedom, and Science by Marc Aronson and Marina Budhos

OH MY GOODNESS!  What a fascinating book.  I learned so much about how the growing and harvest of sugar cane really did shape our world.  Did you know that of the million of slaves taken from Africa only 4% were sent to North America, the rest were sent to the sugar cane fields of the Caribbean.  Being taken to work on a sugar farm was essentially a death sentence because the work was so hard. Today, we get a lot of our sugar from other sources like sugar beets, or high fructose corn syrup but we need to remember those that lost their lives to bring sugar to the world. 

The Price of Loyalty by Mike Castan

This book made me think about another book I read and blogged about last year called "Choke."  In both stories the main character KNOWS what they are doing is not a good choice but because their "friends" want them to do it they do it anyway.  I just want to shake some sense into them.  I know that standing up to your peers is tough but you should never compromise your principles just to please a friend.  So Manny gets himself in a pretty difficult situation with drugs and gang violence when he doesn't stand up for what he knows is the right thing to do.  There was a very powerful line in this book: "You are who your friends are, Manny."  Isn't that the truth.  Be aware of the choices your friends are making because you are now a young adult and the choices you make can have pretty big real world consequences. 

Tuesday, September 10, 2013

Dragon Castle by Joseph Bruchac

Remember me telling you about one of my favorite authors, Joseph Bruchac??  Well, here he is again with another great book.  Prince Rashko knows his parents, the king and queen, aren't the smartest rulers, but things get really messy when they go missing.  Baron Temny parks his army at the castle and is poised to take over unless Rashko can stop them.  I enjoyed this book.  Bruchac calls upon is Slovak ancestry to introduce us to some slovak language and countryside in this story.  The chapters alternate between Rashko's story and his long gone ancestor Pavlov.  What magic has survived the times to help Rashko save his families kingdom? Anything with magic and dragons is right up my alley!!

Wednesday, September 4, 2013

The Paladin Prophecy by Mark Frost

Before you even ask...Yes, I have pre-ordered the next one in the series!! AND the movie rights have been sold already so look for this in theaters in another year or so.  This book is action packed.  Will West has always been taught by his parents to not to draw attention to himself.  In fact, his dad has an entire list of rules that Will lives his life by.  But Will messed up in 10th grade and got a perfect score on a standardized test and now people have come looking for him.  This is when Will's life kind of falls apart, his dad disappears after some cryptic texts and his mom is acting very strange, and Will is being recruited by a very exclusive school.  When Will decides to hide out at this school he comes up against an ages old club and the fight between good and evil is on!  Will and his group of friends begin to realize the extent of their special powers and use them to try to stop what is going on at the school.